JERUSALEM: An Israeli arrested and imprisoned in Libya last March while photographing Jewish sites will return to Israel on Monday after being freed in a complicated deal engineered by Israel’s foreign minister, officials said.
Rafael Rafram Haddad, an Israeli-Tunisian dual national, was in Libya on behalf of an organization dedicated to documenting and preserving the history of Libya’s vanished Jewish community when he disappeared in March.
His whereabouts were unknown until Sunday, when Israeli officials announced that he had been freed by Libyan authorities after prolonged negotiations and flown to Vienna.
The strange details of the case, which was subject until Sunday to a gag order from Israel’s military censor because of fears that publication could endanger Hadad, involved international efforts and was linked to Israel’s treatment of a pro-Palestinian ship sponsored by Libya that tried to run the blockade of Gaza last month.
"The Foreign Ministry and the foreign minister worked for a long time to have him freed, along with other international bodies, and we thank all involved for their help," the ministry’s spokesman, Andy David, said Monday.
David, who gave the first official Israeli comment on the affair, declined to provide further details. Libyan authorities have not commented.
Libya and Israel are enemies, and Israeli nationals are banned from visiting the North African country. Hadad was traveling on his Tunisian passport when he was arrested.
Israeli officials said the efforts to free Hadad involved Italy, which has close ties to Libya and is home to a Libyan Jewish exile community, as well as France, the U.S. and Tunisia. The officials said the final deal was arranged by Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman and an Austrian-Jewish businessman, Martin Schlaff.
Hadad was flown to Vienna on Schlaff’s private jet, the officials said, and was greeted at the airport by Lieberman.
As part of the deal, the officials said, Israel allowed 20 prefabricated houses from the Libyan-sponsored ship, which tried to reach Gaza in July, to be delivered after the ship was diverted to Egypt.
They spoke on condition of anonymity because the details had not officially been made public.
In March, Hadad sent an e-mail saying he was heading to the Jewish Quarter in Tripoli, the Libyan capital, to photograph a synagogue, said Pedazur Benattia, whose Or Shalom Center had sponsored the photographer.
Hadad was supposed to board a flight to Tunisia the next day but never made it, Benattia said, and it later emerged that he had been arrested in Libya.
Israel’s military censor subsequently ordered a ban on publication of the case to avoid compromising the efforts to win Hadad’s release. The order was lifted close to midnight on Sunday, when Hadad arrived in Vienna.
Hadad was open about what he was doing in Libya and was accompanied throughout his visit by a representative of the Libyan secret police, Benattia said. It was still unclear what had triggered the arrest and where and how it came about, Benattia added.
The center has sent photographers to Libya in the past, usually European nationals, he said. In 2002, another photographer sent by Or Shalom — a French student — was detained and held for nine days before being released, Benattia said.
Libya, like many other Arab countries, was home to a large Jewish community until the middle of the 20th century, when Jews fled mob violence and state persecution linked to the Arab-Israeli conflict.
